SP2 Kills PC & Windows XP Copyright

[Shane]

What does this or the previous post have to do with calling Product
Activation, Registration?


Shane

 

[cquirke (MVP Win9x)]

On Thu, 23 Sep 2004 22:07:02 -0700, "KCKeith"

Folks I had a virtually identical experience. The only saving grace is years
ago I learned to install Windows in its own partition and my applications and
data on to separate partitions. So in my case I only lost my Windows install
and my emails in outlook.

You can relocate Outlook's .PST and OE's mail data off C:, as well as
the data locations in "Documents and Settings" (TweakUI for XP).

You should do both, IMO.

After rebuilding my Athlon 64 PC twice now, I have learned a couple of things.

1) The issue seems to be somewhere in installing SP2 while running NTFS
with the compression option turned on. When I had to reformat the drive a
second time, I left compression turned off. I didn't have any issues then.

Don't use compression all over C:; there are several core files that
will not work if compressed!

2) The crashing seems to be related to my BlackICE firewall.

Make verrrrry sure Black Ice is patched against Witty !!!

seriously looking at Symantec & McAffee.

Look beyond those retail turkeys, either to free options (Kerio, AVG)
or paid-for heavywieights (Kaspersky).

-- Risk Management is the clue that asks:

"Why do I keep open buckets of petrol next to all the
ashtrays in the lounge, when I don't even have a car?"

 

[Rock]

What an interesting thread.

SP2 trashed my 802.11g wireless broadband router connection (the software
not the hardware) it also rendered a number of applications inaccessible
(Corel Draw 8 - not very up to date but pretty mainstream). Windows Explorer
ran at a snail's pace and the hard drive bagen to refuse to boot.

My restore points also failed by the way.

Now I'm not a power user but I do maintain separate hard drives with
programmes on c: and data on d: It helps when I upgrade machines and it
means I can format C: with confidence. I also took a precautionary backup of
data onto CD before I started.

Having spent 3 hours (no exaggeration) on the phone to MS support in
Northern Ireland I was no further towards a recovery. The support technician
informed me that problems with wireless networks and broadband connections is
a common theme with SP2 upgrades.

I finally invoked the tried and tested remedy - I formatted C:, reinstalled
XP (which was an upgrade but only needed a quick peek at my ME disk).
Installed SP2 from a cover disk (cost me GBP 6.49 and a short trip to the
newsagent) and spent a happy afternoon installing essential software whilst
whistling the MS corporate song (not).

It's quite cathartic clearing the decks and spring cleaning the office
whilst waiting for installations to complete. SP2 runs fine now. With the
same software and hardware. All I can conclude is that the programmes
installed into XP SP1 got in the way of SP2's clean installation. It appears
that maybe, even when you disable Norton and Wireless Networking something is
still left resident to trip up SP2.

Your statement, "All I can conclude is that the programmes installed
into XP SP1 got in the way of SP2's clean installation." says volumes.
With all due respect for the problems _some_ people are having and their
grief, there is no way an upgrade of this magnitude -- and of the
operating system no less -- can be expected to cope with all the myriad
permutations. I am neither an MS fan or basher. I don't see how it can
work for everyone no matter how much testing is done.

Shame on Microsoft for not getting it right - 802.11g has been around for a
while as has Norton.

Norton (and in general Symantec products) has caused many problems not
just with SP2. Read the newsgroups and see how many issues are related
to a Symantec product. So it's not only an issue of how long it's been
around but how well coded the product is.

Shame on MVP's for being unsypathetic and arrogant (too many millionaires
forgetting to be human).

I'm sorry but -- MVP's being millionaires? Some might, I don't know,
but certainly not from being MVP's.

 

[Guest]

I understand the frustrations of the OP regarding the authentication &
licensing issue involved with the reinstalls. But that it came to this point
is really a hole the OP dug him/herself, and should be treated as a painful
learning experience. I have been through similar purgatories. This is no
justification for the criticisms of MS stated and implied.

On the XP SP2 install problems, I have to say that this has been one of the
better prepared roll-outs I have seen from MS. However, I do not like the
auto-install via WU feature alluded to in previous posts, and think that
users might benefit from some "mandatory speedbumps" along the way before
committing to upgrade.

My install went smooth enough, having installed/updated a couple of items as
advised by OEMs. A radical upgrade such as this requires a modicum of due
diligence employed in advance - and I don't just mean skip-reading some docs.
The problem I see is that many of the folks who like the tricked out,
cutting-edge., blow-ya-pals-away, "built-it-myself-4-less-than-U", killer
systems, have somewhat less respect for the "diligence" part than they have
for the "due". This is unfortunate given that home-built or custom systems
probably need even greater diligence.

I would advise users planning to upgrade to prepare for possible USB issues
with XP SP2. However these can be solved with updates/refreshes of
appropriate chipset INF files. The chipset/motherboard manufacturer should
be included in the due diligence.I

On the subject of Firewalls, avoid Norton/McAfee and most of the other "2nd
wave" companies. Go with the free & effective ZoneALarm (the upgrade to Pro
is well worth it). Of the globocorps, I would choose the CA eTrust Armor.
Both are dang good. I believe that my SP2 install was facilitated by the
prior use of ZA Pro, SpyBot SD, & SpywareBlaster (all free in some form). My
machine was in better shape (with a leaner & cleaner registry), and ZoneAlarm
even recognised the new WIndows Firewall & disabled it (a just choice IMHO,
but you can choose 4 yourself however).

All in all, kudos to MS on this one - pretty smooth for such a radical
upgrade.

 

[Guest]

I installed 2 of our xp systems xp home and xp pro and both of them failed
badly.....the xp home editions would not/couldnt not recognise our wireless
network and my xp pro edition crashed and I was not very happy as it was my
work computer....At least I backed up...but that isnt the problem its the
time lost by having to re-install everything and installing my back-ups...all
I can the sooner linux can have some decent accounting software for my
business the sooner I will be dumping Windows.
Mik

 

[Alias]

Being as you're going to have to do a reinstall anyway, install SP2
immediately after installing the OS and you shouldn't have any problems.
Personally, I wouldn't even try to install SP without reinstalling Windows
first. I have done three computers in two different languages that way and
had no problems whatsoever (other than the hassle of disabling all the new
"security" features in SP2).

Alias

I installed 2 of our xp systems xp home and xp pro and both of them failed
badly.....the xp home editions would not/couldnt not recognise our wireless
network and my xp pro edition crashed and I was not very happy as it was my
work computer....At least I backed up...but that isnt the problem its the
time lost by having to re-install everything and installing my back-ups...all
I can the sooner linux can have some decent accounting software for my
business the sooner I will be dumping Windows.
Mik

XP, including SP2, but you didn't prepare for it. You should have read here,
or at MS for the "How Tos" for installing SP2 (or any major MS
update/service pack) before installing it.should be relegated to the manufacturer for warranty. SP2, Windows (or any
software for that matter) doesn't break hardware, people do, or time does!

 

[Guest]

I had a similar problem. My PC is as Intel as can be. Intel Motherboard and
P4 2+ghz processor and lots of memory. One major difference is that I had
upgraded to XP Pro. from an earlier version of windows and could not
reistall from an upgrade and had lost my original old windows CD and startup
floppy. After many calls to their help center which offered no help in fact
it was the tech on the MSOFT end that finally killed my machine. After
escalating this to a managers level, they sent me a new CD to install from.
All in all I was down for over a month and am still finding out things that I
have lost as I had to do a total install which wiped out my HD completely. A
real horrifying experience. My faut though, I should know better than to
install this level of upgrade this soon in the cycle. My advice, wait 6
months to install major upgrades. Maybe by then the killer bugs will be fixed

 

[Rock]

I had a similar problem. My PC is as Intel as can be. Intel Motherboard and
P4 2+ghz processor and lots of memory. One major difference is that I had
upgraded to XP Pro. from an earlier version of windows and could not
reistall from an upgrade and had lost my original old windows CD and startup
floppy. After many calls to their help center which offered no help in fact
it was the tech on the MSOFT end that finally killed my machine. After
escalating this to a managers level, they sent me a new CD to install from.
All in all I was down for over a month and am still finding out things that I
have lost as I had to do a total install which wiped out my HD completely. A
real horrifying experience. My faut though, I should know better than to
install this level of upgrade this soon in the cycle. My advice, wait 6
months to install major upgrades. Maybe by then the killer bugs will be fixed

:

Having a complete backup helps too. That is the cornerstone of PC work.

 

[Guest]

Hi MJ,
I've never responded to one of these posts but couldn't help myself here.
And I'm an "intermediate" user. It sounds to me like Microsoft is not the
problem! Please remember, without Microsoft, well...need I say more?
Computers are a challenge to our integrity, to our intelligence and to our
"egos"! When you figure it out, or one of these great people help you thru
it, is-it-just-a-wonderful-feeling?!!
Ms Jazz

 

[Peter]

It's unpreparedeness that crashed your PC not SP2. Did you check for
viruses and spyware. Did you check that all your drivers and software were
up to date? Have you cleared your cache and defragged lately?
Here are a few links that might help:
After April 12 XP users will have to install SP2, there will be no choice!
Some useful hints here:
Please note that Microsoft is withdrawing support for non-SP1 XP soon so be
warned!. If you don't even have SP1, you DON'T need to install that first,
SP2 contains all updates from day 1. After installing SP2 there will be
several additional updates offered by Windows Update...take them.
A basic preparation is to make sure you are free of Spyware and Viruses
(well, your PC anyway ), clear your cache (Start/Control Panel/Performance
and Maintenance/Free up space...), make sure your software is up to date and
that you have at least 2gb of HD space available. SP2 wont need all that but
it's wise to have some leeway until it removes its backups etc.
After installing it do a "clear cache" again and defragment your HD.
Over the next few days, SP2 automatically cleans out stuff it didn't need to
use anyway.

Service Pack 2 information
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/xpsp2.htm
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spackins.htm

List of fixes included in Windows XP Service Pack 2:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811113

WinXP SP2: What's New for Internet Explorer and Outlook Express
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/ieo...oeoverview.mspx

Application Compatibility Testing and Mitigation Guide for Windows XP
Service Pack 2
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...&displaylang=en

How to successfully install Windows XP Service Pack 2.
http://www.fixyourwindows.com/winxpsp2install.htm

Are You Ready for WinXP SP2?
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/default.mspx

What to Know Before You Download and Install Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/sp2...whattoknow.mspx

Get SP2 on CD free (for those of you on slow dial-up)
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloa...us/default.mspx

 

[Raymond J. Johnson Jr.]

| It's unpreparedeness that crashed your PC not SP2


How do you know? I had a perfectly prepared--at least in accordance with all
of the standard warnings--computer and SP2 blew it up. It installed without
incident on another computer. The instances were admittedly rare, but there
*were* installations that went south for no discernible reason, and on
computers that were prepared.

 

[Elvey Middleton]

MJ
I had the same problem, hard drives appeared to die BSOD and no matter what
I did it failed.
So I ditched the motherboard and instantly my system began to buzz, all was
well.

It is my belief that the SATA controllers are flaky so after 4 reloads and 2
RMA's I now have an all singing and dancing machine.

Not science but it worked for me

Hope you resolve it.


Elvey

 

[Fed Up]

Ditto!

 

[DL]

If an sp update kills an installation then thats due to hardware on the PC,
not specifically an MS issue

 

[Chuck]

"My PC worked beautifully prior to SP2"
What video card was/is installed?
This MBD dates from ~2004 and is a socket "A" board
Why did you wait so long to install SP2?
Where/how did you obtain the SP-2 update, and was it downloaded or from a
CD?
Which version of the SP-2 Update did you use? (Normal or Administrator(for
use via a LAN or multiple machines)?
Did you disable any active Antivirus or anti malware programs before you
started the install?

We have a system with the same motherboard, and did not encounter the
problems you mentioned.

 

[Alex Clark]

That's odd, I've had machines running everything from RTM right through to
SP3 and never had those kinds of problems. The only issue I've ever had
with installing a service pack was putting SP3 on a machine a while back -
it was riddled with viruses (virii?) and due to locked reg keys and sys
files, the SP bombed out during the install and corrupted Windows. Other
than that, nada.

Were you using a legal install of XP? If your key was detected as invalid,
then that might've upset it. In fact, if you're getting a message telling
you that all of your allocated installs are used up, then that sounds very
fishy to me - just how many times have you used this key to install XP?